Pages

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Review: Sent

Sent (The Missing, book 2)By Margaret Peterson Haddix, read by Chris SorensonPublished 2009 by Recorded Books

Warning: There will be spoilers for book one of the series in this review. If you'd like to read my review of the first book, go here.

Now that Jonah, Katherine, and Chip have solved at least part of the mystery behind the ominous letters and where Jonah and Chip actually come from, they find themselves on a whirlwind adventure to save Chip from his true identity - as Edward V, king of England in 1483. The time-travellers must find a way to save Chip and Alex (another of the Missing) without causing too many ripples in time. If they do this, they should be returned to their lives in the 21st-century.

Like the first book in the series, I listened to the audio of this one. I actually think these are great books for this medium - they are exciting and well-paced, so it never seems like I'm wasting my time listening when I'd be reading much faster (like The Hunger Games audiobook). As I mentioned in my review of the first book, what I was most interested in about this series was discovering who the missing children really were, and seeing how Jonah plans to save them so that they can all go back to living happily in the 21st-century. I'm a big fan of historical fiction and that's what this second book in the series reads like, more so than science fiction (not that I don't love that, too). With this title, Haddix transports us back to 15th-century England, where Chip is a young Edward V, king of England after the death of his father. As a young royal, his life is in grave danger from others who are hungry to ascend to the throne. I think Haddix does a decent job of creating a believable historical world - what I found most believable is that Jonah, Katherine, Chip and Alex didn't really know what to expect most of the time (because, honestly, how many kids pay attention to history class?). I was glad that they weren't complete idiots about the past, though - Alex's mom having taught him a number of things. I like that they all had to work together to find a solution that would both save the boys and not disturb the flow of time too much. Haddix also includes an author's note at the end, to help kids distinguish the fact from the fiction. I think this series is a great way to introduce kids to real-life historical mysteries - they can then go on to research the mysteries themselves as well as think of their own solutions. I don't know how many books are planned for the series (surely, she's not planning on doing one book for each of the missing children!), but I will gladly read and discover how Haddix solves some of history's most compelling mysteries.